Equitable Life victims want more as Government announces £1.5bn compensation

Equitable Life campaigners are outraged at government plans to announce £1.5billion compensation for victims of the collapsed insurer, saying it is less than a third of the amount victims lost due to failures of regulation.

The sum, due to be announced this week by Chancellor George Osborne, is much higher than the £400million recommended earlier this year by retired judge Sir John Chadwick, who was appointed by the previous government to assess compensation.

But it falls well short of the £6billion victims say they are owed and of the £4billion to £4.8billion figure suggested by Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham in a report in 2008, conducted under different terms of reference.

Campaigner: Actress Honor Blackman lost more than half her pension when equitable collapsed

Actress Honor Blackman, 82, who lost more than half of her pension
with Equitable, said: 'The only way the government can repair some of
the damage done to Britain's' savings culture is to guarantee that the
money will be there when you need it. Compensating Equitable Life
victims properly is a necessary first step.'

Victims have been waiting for a decade for compensation and
despite being branded as wealthy speculators, campaigners claim their
average pension is £70 a week.

Spokesman Paul Weir said: 'We accept that in the current
climate, a 20 per cent cut from the real figure of £6billion is
acceptable, but not a 70 per cent cut - no other area of expenditure is
being cut to that degree.

'If the previous government had not dragged this out for a
decade we would have had fair compensation long before the national
finances were a problem.

'As taxpayers, equitable victims have paid for the bank bailout. We have been cheated but we will fight on.'

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Equitable Life victims want more as Government is to announce £1.5bn compensation